Parallel
by Cloud802
Summary: I wake up, I live my life, then I go to sleep, and... well, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is no longer my only problem. Something tells me things are only going to get a lot weirder from here on out.
1. 1&2: Dream

**A/N: So here I am... writing about ponies.**

**Never thought it would come to this.**

**Chapter 1: Dream Part 1**

"DOWN DOWN DOWN!"

I hit the dirt...

Didn't even hear the explosion, just saw rocks and other debris fly towards me the split second before I covered my head. I could hear the muffled sounds of gunfire through my ringing ears, but I couldn't move.

Dying had always been expected when a soldier got sent out like I did, but that didn't stop us from enjoying what little remained of our lives, and trying our damnedest to get back home on two legs and not in a casket. For me it was the scariest thing I'd ever done.

And right then... right at that moment, I closed my eyes and prayed that I would make it home safe to my family.

_"... Jenk..."_

I managed to pull my head up and looked at my surroundings.

The gunfire was still going on, our vehicle was crippled, but despite being ambushed we were holding our own.

I couldn't quite hear, but I saw a familiar face close in on mine, and felt a hand grab my shoulder.

"Reggie's injured, we gotta get the fuck outta here, call in air support..."

I could tell he was yelling, but he might has well have been whispering.

I went for the radio on my belt.

_"..Jenkins..."_

"HQ this is Road Runner!"

I took cover behind the remains of our vehicle...

My gun... where was my gun?

As soon as I asked myself that question someone had already pressed an M9 sidearm into my free hand; I didn't see who.

"HQ this is Road Runner!"

"Go ahead Road Runner."

_"Jenkins, are you alright?"_

Just like that I was laying on a soft couch once more, staring up at the ceiling of a richly decorated office, an oak fan spinning above me, dim light in the center.

A cold sweat was running down my forehead, "I am now... thanks Doc."

Doctor Mitchell was a very composed and kind man. He didn't charge people much, and he knew what he was doing.

Granted, some part of me thought a lot of the shrinks and psychs on the market were money grubbers, but talking to Doc Mitchell really helped me.

I wasn't over it, and I doubted I would ever really be over it, but talking to someone about it, especially after living on my own for so long, helped a lot.

"Talking to your parents again?"

"Yeah... yeah, Mom's been real worried about me, but it's helped a lot. I haven't told them about the things I saw or the PTSD, but it helps..."

"Why won't you tell them?"

"That'd just be adding more stress to what they have to deal with, besides, I like to think I've been doing pretty good so far. I don't drink myself under anymore, I don't have to take sleeping pills."

"But you still have the flashbacks and nightmares."

"Yeah. They're really... vivid. Almost like I'm there, but not quite."

"It's different for everyone Jenkins. Your case is pretty intense, but nothing a man like you couldn't handle, just remember, you're not on your own, and you never will be."

"Yeah... thanks."

Our session was over before I knew it, and I was back on the street and walking through crowds of people to get back to my apartment building.

I was doing okay, I really was, especially compared to when I first got back.

I got discharged from the military, well... not discharged.

I only had a few months until my reenlistment, so they labeled me ineligible and let me fall out of line like a good little soldier. I wanted to keep serving, but I was in no condition to do it, and I knew just as well as everyone around me that I needed help, so I went out and got it.

The charges were always either paid for completely or discounted considerably. The paper work and arguing I had to do to get it going was ridiculous, but it ended up on the better end of things.

Of course, there was the matter of what Doc had said.

_"You're not on your own, and you never will be."_

That was what scared me the most.

Eventually my parents would die.

I had my friends at a small desk job, but we never really did much together.

Not to mention, I wasn't exactly in any hurry to get married.

At least... until THAT happened.

A crosswalk about halfway back to my apartment was always the most annoying one to cross. The walk light was broken, so people had to rush really fast across when the corresponding light turned red, lest they ended up playing a live action game of Frogger to prevent death by delivery truck.

So that was exactly what I did, just like every other time walking home from my shrink.

Unlike every other time, I collided into someone and we both took a nasty fall onto the asphalt.

I managed to catch myself on my hands falling back, and I was already feeling the burns forming on my palms.

"Ow... ow ow ow, crap..."

I looked up, and was greeted by the strangest sight I had the privilege of seeing since I had returned from my little overseas trip.

A girl about a foot shorter than me, fallen on her backside, panicking over a stack of what looked like a lot of school material.

That wasn't what caught my eyes though.

It was her weird hair.

Down to her mid back, it had been dyed a very dark purple, almost a blue, with a single magenta streak running from her hair line all the way down to the bottom.

"Erm... lemme help you with that."

"Crap, now I'm gonna be late."

'Or you could just ignore me.'

I decided it would be more productive to help her pick up without waiting for her permission, and set about doing so.

"Sorry I ran into you," I mumbled, handing her the half of the books I had retrieved, "You sure you don't need help with all this stuff?"

She took them from me without so much as a thank you. The stack of books reached all the way to her neck as she carried them.

"No time. In a hurry... can't be late!"

And just like that she was gone.

The blare of a horn snapped me out of my small daze and I ran the rest of the way across so the intersection could get moving again.

'Huh... what a strange girl.'

I reached the third floor of my apartment building and opened the door to my new home just as the sky started turning orange.

I was immediately accosted by a small and furry orange creature rubbing against my leg and purring. "Hey Mishmash," I said, picking the cat up and closing the door behind me. "You miss me?" I asked with a grin, rubbing him behind his ears.

I set about my daily tasks, throw my sweater on the couch, turn on the TV, and plop down to watch it until I got over my laziness enough to cook a terribad TV dinner for myself.

All in all it had been a pretty good day, and for some reason, instead of thinking about what Doc had said I started thinking about that strange girl on the intersection.

It was kind of hard not to.

Even in a city like that she stuck out like a sore thumb. Never in my life had I encountered someone with hair like that. I'd seen punk hair girls dye their stuff blue, I'd seen spike mohawks dyed red...

But it was weird, aside from the color her hair cut had been rather normal.

"Guess it takes all kinds," I muttered to myself, closing my eyes to take a nap while the TV blared in the background.

* * *

At first I thought it was coming from the TV...

"Shut the fuck up! What did I tell you! Huh!"

Then I heard a loud noise out in the hallway.

I jumped up from the couch, almost knocking poor Mishmash into the air and hitting my shin on the edge of my coffee table.

I hissed in pain, stumbling out of the apartment and catching sight of something that made my stomach turn.

There was a small part of my mind that told me to close the door and ignore it, the same part of my mind that almost caused me to back out of my enlistment in the military.

Did I really want to get involved in this?

That was the question.

"Hey!" I shouted, propping the door open with the small trash can by it and walking to the couple on my left, which the commotion had been coming from.

I caught sight of the poor girl, huddling against the wall and muttering under her breath like she was broken.

The guy standing over her looked like a college dropout, messed up dust jacket on, tussled black hair, and facial hair that made him look like a drug head, combined with his pale complexion and the welts on his face it was safe to assume he was on something.

"The fuck is going on out here, eh? I'm trying to sleep!" I yelled.

The guy smirked and threw his arms out, as if innocent, "Just a little lovers quarrel, nothin' for you to be worried about man."

"Oh yeah?"

"Just go back into your apartment man, nothing to see here."

"Step away from the girl."

The man frowned, "This ain't your business man."

"Did you fuckin' hear me or not? I said get away from the girl!"

"Wanna play hero? Aight."

The next seconds were like a surreal flashback to me.

He pulled the gun from his jacket and I had almost no time to react. I reached down for the trash can and yanked it from the door, throwing it right at his face. This attack sent him stumbling a bit, but not before he got a shot off.

I thought I heard the girl shriek, but I already had the guy pinned down before he was able to shoot again. I disarmed him and put his own gun against his head.

Every instinct was screaming at me to pull the trigger.

**_"HQ this is Road Runner!"_**

**_"They're coming up on our flank!"_**

**_"WE NEED AIR SUPPORT NOW!"_**

"...Wait"

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. The guy I had pinned to the ground was looking up at me, fear in his eyes, but the voice hadn't come from him. I looked over at the girl he was hitting and yelling at earlier.

She was about as tall as me, and was in her pajamas at the moment. Her hair was almost unnaturally long, all the way down to her waist, and was a light brown color.

"I um... I... I'll call the police, so... you don't have to do that."

Despite having a black eye, she was the perfect picture of calm.

Her voice was extremely soft and subdued.

"Besides, um..." she pointed to my shoulder.

Apparently the first shot had hit me in the left shoulder, and now that the adrenaline was gone and it had been pointed out to me I started feeling the pain.

"Get the hell offa me man!"

I responded by hitting him upside the head with the butt of the gun, causing the girl to flinch a little.

"Please don't do that," she said gently, "You could be arrested for hitting him after you subdue him. I'll be right back with bandages, don't move."

I noticed that the blow had knocked him out cold, he probably couldn't sustain much damage because he was so drugged out.

It was odd that besides the black eye, the girl had looked healthy, usually drug heads like these guys dragged people down with them.

I sat against the wall and let out a sigh, setting the gun by my side just as the girl emerged from what I assumed to be her apartment... right next door to mine apparently.

After another moment she emerged with a first aid kit and smiled at me. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she knelt down at my left side and set to work.

"The police will be here in a few minutes."

"You're pretty calm considering what happened," I said.

She nodded, "He's not my boyfriend, I've been trying to help him."

"That's risky business."

"I know." She set the gauze and began to wrap the bandages through and around my shoulder. "My name is Felicia, Felicia Shirley."

"William Jenkins... you can just call me Bill, or Jenkins. How'd you get mixed up with a guy like him?"

"I feed the pigeons on the roof."

"Um... excuse me?"

"Oh they're such sweet little birds. I have a small coop that's completely open, and I go up to the roof every morning and feed them. There were hummingbirds where I used to live, it's a shame they don't have them here."

"What's this have to do with that guy?"

"Oh... right, sorry..." she blushed, "I love animals, so I get sidetracked sometimes. One morning I saw him up there, injecting himself with something, I started talking to him, and he was an okay person, but whenever I brought up that he should quit things like this happened."

"And you kept trying anyway?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid he's becoming too violent, and it's time to call the police."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're some weird mix of naive and responsible?"

She giggled, "Only my friend Rachel."

An awkward silence followed.

"So..." I said.

"I'm sorry. I'm not very good at talking to people. I um... uh..."

"It's alright, thanks for the bandages, when the police question us at least we'll be stuck waiting together."

She smiled and blushed again, "Thank you... for your help."

* * *

The trip to the hospital, the stitches, and the police taking our statements lasted an extremely long time; I didn't make it home until midnight with Felicia, and we said a quiet goodbye in the hall before returning to our respective apartments. Mishmash was on me in a second flat as soon as I laid down on the couch and turned the TV on.

I didn't sleep in my bed anymore because there was no TV.

Sometimes leaving a funny show on would help keep my head straight in my dreams and drive the nightmares away.

... I really needed to put my TV in front of the bed.

That night I wasn't in for the nightmares of gunfire and explosions and screaming.

It was nothing that traumatising...

But it was just as vivid.

**Chapter 2: Dream Part 2**

The first thing I noticed upon waking was that the feeling of my couch was gone, and replaced by soft grass.

The second thing I noticed was the warmth of the sun on my face.

But something didn't feel... quite right.

I opened my eyes, and in my dazed state realized I was staring up at a blue sky.

'How did I end up outside?'

That question was less important than the fact that there was no grass around my apartment building, just sidewalk and streets, and the park was several blocks away.

Then it dawned on me and I began to slightly panic.

I tried to stand, but for some reason I couldn't move quite right, it was almost as if I couldn't push myself up.

I couldn't feel my fingers... this caused my slight panic to turn into a full blown freakout.

My breathing became ragged as I once again tried to stand up and failed, falling onto my chest and knocking the air out of my lungs. I struggled to breathe.

A panic attack...

My immobility coupled with the strange surroundings brought beck something I hadn't dealt with in quite a few months.

I remembered the basics, pace your breathing and try to slow it down, think about things that calm you down.

Once I gathered myself I was able to take deeper breaths, then I looked down and screamed.

Hooves?

Brown hair covering my body.

I fell back and my panic attack started from the beginning.

This time I didn't recover, and my world went blank.

* * *

_"... weird."_

_"... be alright?"_

"I don't know, I found him in a clearing outside of Ponyville. Hopefully he wakes up soon. Do you know him?"

"No way, never seen him in my life. Anyway, I gotta go an' meet Fluttershy."

"Right, thanks for the help Applejack."

"Any time."

My brain functions started coming back to me, and the first thing I felt was the warmth of a soft bed.

"Spike, get some hot towels."

"Aye aye Ma'am!"

"Urgh..."

"Oh no! Don't push yourself."

Something pushed me back down when I tried to sit up.

My body still didn't feel right at all.

"Where am I?"

"A library."

For some reason the voice I was hearing was slightly familiar to me. I opened my eyes and let out a sigh when I saw the wooden roof above me. Then I turned to my left and fell out of the bed at what I saw.

"What are you... Hey!"

For some reason I was back on the bed again, "Wh... what are you?"

"What are you talking about?"

She... it... looked like a small horse, a small purple horse with a horn... a small purple unicorn.

The mane on it looked eerily familiar.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

The girl I ran into on the way home from Doc's place. I didn't say anything.

"This is a dream... right?"

The small horse laughed, "No... you look pretty awake to me. What's your name?"

"Uh... I..."

"Hey, you're in a safe place. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"W... William Jenkins."

I didn't know what else to do.

A very small, very expressive, very strange horse was talking to me.

It had to have been a dream. I decided to just roll with it. I had never had a dream that vivid before. It was almost like it was real.

Her 'face' showed confusion, "Really? That's a strange name."

"No weirder than Twilight Sparkle," I said, giving a forced laugh. "Have we um... have we met before?"

"I'm pretty sure I would have remembered you, so no, not that I know of. You look like you've been through a lot, give those hooves a rest."

"Hooves?" I looked down again and sighed, "Oh, right."

"Is something wrong?"

"I... no... nothings wrong."

"So did you crash land while you were on a trip or something?"

"Crash land?"

"You know, from flying? There was a pretty nasty storm scheduled yesterday, and if you don't live in the area and were flying through, you could have gotten caught in it."

"Flying? I..."

"It's alright, just get some rest and we'll..."

"Hot towels as ordered."

The voice came from at Twilight's feet... hooves. whatever, and when I looked down a small spikey creature with large eyes greeted me.

"Hey there!"

"AUGH!"

Their eyes widened, and Twilight started to panic, "What, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Okay look!" I shouted, "I really shouldn't be here, this has to be a dream."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm... I'm a horse, why am I a horse?"

Twilight looked down at the small spikey creature, confused at my outburst. The spikey creature shrugged.

"Why are you talking?

Twilight laughed nervously, "Because I learned to when I was little?"

"Is he okay?" asked the creature.

"Where am I? Just tell me where I am!"

"Please, calm down! I'll explain, and then when I'm done, you'll explain, okay?"

Calm? I couldn't be calm in a situation like this. Calm was completely out of the question.

I could shut up though.

"Okay, since you don't know where you are let's start with that. You are in my home, the library of a small town called Ponyville. The town is in a country called Equestria, and is adjacent to the capital Cantalot, which is ruled as a monarchy by the Great Princess Celestia."

"You don't have to explain everything Twilight."

"Something tells me I do Spike. Now..." she nodded to me, "Your turn, where are you from?"

I tried not to let my panic get the better of me again. I was over that stuff, there was no need to go back to jumping at my shadow and being afraid of everything.

Especially considering as this was a dream.

A very vivid, very lifelike dream...

"I'm uh... well... God this is weird. Wherever this Equestria place is, or Ponyville or whatever, I've never been to it. I'm a human, not..." I threw my 'arms' out so they could both see, "This."

Spike tilted his head, "A human?"

Twilight frowned, "Oh no."

"What is it Twilight?"

"Oh no. No." She turned around and descended what looked like stairs leading to the bulk of her house, which happened to be a library, just as she mentioned.

I could still hear her panicking.

"Nonononono... noooooo, this is not good."

"Twilight!" shouted Spike, "What's going on?"

Twilight came back upstairs with her horn glowing and an extremely thick book floating next to her head. "How did you get here?" she asked.

At least it was easy for her to believe me.

"Last thing I remember is going to bed after I got home from the police station."

"Police station?" asked Spike.

Twilight grinned nervously, "Think guards Spike."

"Ooooh. Wait, how do you know all this?"

I decided to start a checklist at that moment.

Things I never thought I'd see horses do, but did anyways:

Number one, roll their eyes.

"Because I read Spike. Anyways, what were you doing at the police station?"

I sighed and 'sat up' in bed, it wasn't as uncomfortable as it looked, "There was a girl outside my apartment. She was getting beat by this guy, so I knocked him out and she called the cops. They took us in to make a statement, then I walked her home and we both went to sleep, and... I ended up here in Ponydale."

"Ponyville," said Spike.

"Right, sorry."

"This is fascinating," mumbled Twilight, "Spike, strike a letter."

"But we just sent one."

"This one is more important." Spike pulled a paper out of seemingly nowhere, along with a quill, and Twilight started, "Dear Princess Celestia, I'm writing you now for a gravely important matter. On the edge of Ponyville we found a pegasus..."

Pegasus?

I twisted my head around.

I expected myself to panic again, but at this point it was just dull surprise I was in for.

Wings, huh?

"When awakened he was greatly confused, and through questioning we have come to find out that he is from beyond the veil. Despite the limited knowledge available on the veil, this could be extremely dangerous, and we should investigate this matter further. Please reply as soon as possible. Your Faithful Student, Twilight."

Twilight let out a sigh, "Listen... William. Our goal right now is to get you home from where you probably came."

"Probably?"

"Well, no one knows much about the veil, other than the fact that it's forbidden, but it's the most likely case."

"I'm still not sure whether or not this is a dream."

"Well, in any case, she should reply by the end of the day, and depending on her decision you might have to stay in Ponyville for a few days. I have an extra bed that I can set up downstairs."

"Thanks... I guess."

"This must be really weird for you."

"You don't know the half of it."

"You must be hungry, we should go get something to eat, can you stand? From what I've read human's walk on two legs."

I was kind of hungry now that she mentioned it. "Yeah that's about right. Two hands and two feet, fingers and toes."

Twilight grinned, "Fascinating, you'll have to tell me as much as you can before we get you back."

"Just... don't make me eat hay."

"Don't worry, I know the perfect place to take you, but first..."

"Right... standing, gotcha."

I was surprisingly dextrous for being a horse... pony... whatever thing, probably because I still retained my higher brain functions.

It wasn't that hard to get out of bed like I do every morning, 'feet' to the ground first. Only this time I pushed myself forward and landed on my 'hands'. It took me a few seconds to get the balance issues down, but hell, it seemed easier than walking on two feet all the time, maybe I wouldn't trip as often in this weird place.

"Huh... you don't have a cutie mark."

"A what now?"

"Nothing. Think you can walk?"

"Walk? Trot? Yeah I don't know."

Twilight started to lead me, and I felt slightly humiliated by the fact that I had to be taught how to walk by someone. After a few minutes of trying not to fall on my face I finally got it down, and she lead me outside.

"We're heading out Spike."

"Alright, I'll hold down the fort."

"Thanks!"

It was a bright day, just like when I had woken up, "You sure there was a storm earlier, would it clear up that quick?"

"It was scheduled to."

"Scheduled? You mean like a weather report?"

"No," said Twilight, leading me around the corner of her house and down the dirt road deeper into town, "The pegasi are in charge of the clouds, when we need rain they make it."

"Man... wish we could control weather back home."

"Your weather acts on its own? That's pretty convenient if you ask me."

"Well, not really, it can get pretty nasty. Tornados, tsunami, hurricanes. People die in extreme weather like that."

Twilight frowned, "Is death... common where you come from?"

"... Yeah."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but still, it can't be that bad, right?"

"It's not. Life is good, sometimes a bit boring. Sometimes I feel like I could be happier though."

"You're not happy?"

"I am, I am happy. Happier than I was a few months ago."

"Well here we are, the Ponyville cafe."

From what I could see of this little town it was... brightly colored, but not so much that it was blinding. Most of the buildings were white and made out of simple materials like wood, the cafe was no exception, and it looked like the tables were all outside, which I suppose made sense, you wouldn't need an inside dining area if you knew exactly when it was going to rain.

"Please tell me you have sandwiches."

"We do."

I knew it wouldn't have meat, but I didn't care, I was absolutely starving. There was an egg sandwich though, so I asked for one of those. The tables outside didn't have chairs near them, and were low enough where we could just sit on our hinds and eat like that.

"You're taking this surprisingly well."

"I've been through worse, besides, I already got all my freaking out and screaming out of my system. Now I just want to get home, If I don't show up to work or my shrink I'll get called in as missing."

"Shrink?"

Dammit.

"A psychologist. He um... helps people with their problems by talking to them."

"Really?" Her eyes widened in excitement, "How come I never thought of that?" She frowned, "We could REALLY use one of those here."

"You don't have psychologists or anything? Then again, this place seems rather... cheery compared to where I'm from."

"No, trust me William, we need one."

For some reason she sounded desperate, and for some reason that made me smile.

"It's not funny," she grumbled.

"What, is everyone crazy?"

A nervous laugh was all I got in response, so I decided not to press the issue any further.

"God it's weird," I grumbled to myself, adjusting my position, "Hopefully I won't be sticking around long enough to get used to it."

Twilight sighed, "Too bad is what I say. The veil and the humans are some of the most interesting subjects I've studied. I know it's selfish, but it would be really neat if you got to stay here for a few days, and I think you'd like it."

"Well, I'm not exactly human right now," I said with a smirk.

"That doesn't matter, I can still ask you questions, and I've got questions."

"Better get started then."

"What's your government like?"

"Wow, way to choose the hardest question right off the bat. Anyways, it depends on what part of the world you're in. You guys probably have countries over here too."

"Guys?"

"Erm... ponies?"

"Yeah, we do."

"Alright. So the world is split into seven continents, and these continents have their own countries. I'm from the North American continent, from the country of the United States of America. Our government is what you call a democracy, we vote in a bunch of people to make decisions, including one person called the president, who has a hand in leading the military, and some of the bigger decisions."

"You vote ponies into positions of power?"

"Yeah, it was founded on being able to choose and have freedom. People abuse it naturally, but hopefully it works out in the end."

"Abuse of power huh?"

"Yeah, it's pretty common where I'm from."

Before we knew it our sandwiches had arrived.

Twilight seemed to have some sort of magical power she used to carry stuff, because she was now using it to levitate her sandwich so she could eat it.

I sighed and leaned down to start eating mine, not even bothering to use my 'hands'. Twilight didn't say anything, so it probably wasn't that weird.

Honestly, it was the best egg sandwhich I ever had.

Toasted to perfection, tomatoes, lettuce, and yolk cooked eggs.

Then again, I had been eating TV dinners for a year, anything was better than that stuff.

"That was the best damn egg sandwich I've ever had."

Twilight laughed, "What's that word?"

"What word?"

"Damn."

For some reason it was REALLY weird hearing a word like that come from Twilight, "Erm... don't worry about it, it's a human thing."

"Alright, well, I'm glad you liked it. While we're waiting for a reply I should take you to meet my friends."

"Alrigh..."

BOOM

My whole world flipped.

I ended up on my back with my hooves tucked and a sharp pain rolling up my spine, "What the..."

Then I heard the laughing.

"Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?" shouted Twilight.

I craned my neck to get a better look and laid eyes on the entire spectrum of the rainbow, and that was just her mane and tail.

"Oh man, I'm sorry... heheheh, hahahaha..."

She didn't SOUND sorry.

"Thanks for checking on the shell shocked veteran over here," I grumbled, rolling over and pushing myself back up.

"OO OO!" The rainbow pony was in front of me in an instant, "Did you just say veteran? You must know some SWEET flying moves then."

"Um... not that kind of veteran."

"Awww..." her face fell, but then she perked up in the next instant, "Well I can show you some stuff."

"I'm not really..."

"We should go dive bombing, that would be AWESOME!"

"I don't know how to fly."

She stopped and tilted her head at me, "You what?"

"I... I can't fly..." For some reason I was embarrassed to admit this. There I was with a pair of wings glued to my back, and despite humanity dreaming of flying I couldn't do jack with them.

"What is thi... I don't even..." she turned to Twilight, who laughed nervously.

"Listen, I'm not exactly from around here."

Rainbow Dash turned to me once more, "You mean Ponyville."

"No, just... here."

"Equestria?"

"No, as in... HERE." I gestured to the ground at our hooves, which only made Rainbow Dash even more confused.

"He came from the veil," said Twilight.

"Wait, you're a human?"

Twilight frowned, "You sure know a lot Dash."

"I don't read as much as you, but I've seen a few things, especially since you moved here. Well no wonder you can't fly then! C'mon, let's go, we've got work to do!"

Before I knew what was happening Rainbow Dash was shoving me away from the cafe, and for some reason I felt compelled to follow.

"Wait!" shouted Twilight, "Dash, he's..."

* * *

Rainbow Dash had taken me to some hills on the edge of town, and Twilight had followed, her protests drowned out by Dash's excitement the entire way.

The sound of a coaches whistle blowing drew my attention to Rainbow Dash.

Where in the hell she got an orange jumpsuit and a whistle I will never know, "Listen up Trainee!"

... That sounded familiar.

"Today you will learn to fly! You will push yourself to the limit, and then you will push more!"

If there was one thing I still had going for me it was my military bearing and discipline.

Rainbow Dash was not fucking around, so I wouldn't either.

"YES MA'AM!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "You're getting way too into this."

Dash grinned, "I like that attitude! Alright Trainee. The first thing you must learn is that flying is not easy, it does not come naturally, and it will take time!"

Twilight frowned, "Dash, he won't have the time to..."

"Now, first we'll cover the basics. Get your belly on the ground trainee, we're going through the positions!"

It went like this for a while. I figured out how to move my wings on their own, and we cycled through the in air positions on the safety of the ground over and over again.

"Alright!"

Another whistle blow.

"Same time tomorrow!" shouted Dash.

"That's the thing," said Twilight, "I don't know if he'll be here tomorrow."

"Oh, trying to get home?"

"Pretty much," I said, "Sorry about that."

Rainbow Dash looked really disappointed.

Even if it was all a dream, I still felt bad for ditching her like that, "Listen, I'll be back same time tomorrow after lunch if I'm still not back home."

Dash took a deep breath, "Alright, you better be ready!"

"Got it!"

This was getting ridiculous.

* * *

"Alright, this'll be our last stop for the day, since the suns going down."

"Who lives here?"

Twilight had taken me to the edge of what looked like a forest. In front of us was a strange looking cottage.

"I wanted to do this first, since she's the hardest, but Dash kind of... interrupted."

"It's alright. This is all weird and wrong to me, but you guys are pretty cool."

... Despite the brightly hued color scheme and the diabetes inducing surroundings.

Twilight walked forward with me tailing behind her, and brought her hoof to the door to gently tap it. "Fluttershy, it's Twilight."

I found it weird that Twilight didn't yell to get her friend's attention, and normally you would knock harder, then when the door opened I didn't find it weird anymore.

"Oh... hello Twilight..." Then Fluttershy's gaze landed on me and she let out a gasp.

Twilight kicked her hoof into the door, ensuring retreat was impossible, "Relax Fluttershy, he's just a friend. He'll be staying in Ponyville for the night, and maybe a few days."

"Oh I um..."

"Hi," I said it as gently as humanly possible, but Fluttershy sat on her hind quarters and brought her hooves up to cover her face.

My heart melted like butter, "Maybe we should leave," I said through gritted teeth.

I felt like I was trespassing somewhere sacred.

"No, it's okay, she'll be alright. Go on, introduce yourself."

"My name is uh... William, William Jenkins."

"... Fluttershy."

She talked so quietly I barely heard her.

"Uh... nice to meet you."

Things were getting very awkward very fast...

Wait a minute.

"What do you like to do?"

An extremely long moment of silence passed before she answered again in a quiet voice, "... Animals."

Felicia?

I managed to keep my head on my shoulders. If I started doing anything weird now it would probably freak the poor girl out.

"Have we um... met anywhere before Fluttershy?"

No answer.

Dammit.

"I own a cat," I blurted out.

She didn't say anything, but her hooves went back to the floor and she seemed a little less reserved.

"His name is Mishmash and he's like... the best pet I've ever had. Every time I come home he rubs on my leg and begs for food, and he makes sure the mice don't get into my pantry. He loves the soft food that I can get in cans from the supermarket, his favorite is the chicken."

The look of fear vanished, and was replaced with a smile, "Does he like to play?"

"All the frikkin' time. I have a bunch of cat toys I went out and bought for him. One of them is this fuzzy thing on the end of a stick that I dangle around, he loves to chase that thing."

I heard Twilight let out a breath of relief.

"How did you get him?"

"My mom bought him for me when I came back home from the w... from far away."

"That sounds nice, do you think I could meet him?"

I frowned, "Sorry, I'm not exactly from around here."

Fluttershy pouted and looked at the ground.

"We should get going," said Twilight, "It's almost dusk and Princess Celestia probably sent me a letter back by now."

"Um..." I turned to Fluttershy, who continued when I was looking at her, "Do you think that... that you could tell me more about Mishmash tomorrow?"

"I'm trying to get home..."

Her gaze fell again.

"But if I'm still here then yeah, I'll tell you all about him."

She smiled, "Thank you."

* * *

Twilight didn't say anything until we were back at her place and through the door, "That went a lot better than I thought it would have," she said with a smile, "She told you she liked animals, but how did you know how to get her talking?"

"Erm... luck?"

I could keep secrets, but I was a notoriously bad liar.

"Okay then Mr. Lucky," she said with a laugh, "Spiiiike!"

Spike was by Twilight's side in less than a second.

Damn he was fast.

"Has Princess Celestia sent a letter back?"

"Yep, I wanted to wait until you were back to open it up."

"Alright what's it say?"

Spike pulled the letter out and unrolled it, "AHEM, My Dearest and Most Faithful Student, Don't worry..."

A moment of silence passed.

I thought I saw Twilight's eye twitch, "Wait, that's it?"

Spike coughed, "Er... I guess so."

Another moment of silence.

"No," said Twilight, "Nope, I'm not gonna let this get to me. Here's what's going to happen, we're going to go to bed!"

"We're what now?" I asked.

Twilight turned to me and huffed with a smile, "We're going to bed William."

"But I..."

"No, trust me, in the few years I've spent in Ponyville I've learned a very valuable lesson."

"And that is?"

"To take vague terms and strange letters as literally as possible, so if the Princess tells us not to worry, then we... what William?"

"We don't worry?"

"Exactly, now I'll get your bed ready."

Twilight actually looked kind of scary right there.

In a frame of ten minutes I was laying under a rather cosy comforter on the first floor of Twilight's tree/library. I was slightly nervous about not having a TV to distract my thoughts, but there was something else on my mind as I drifted into a fitful sleep.

I was stuck in Ponyland, no one was feeding my cat, my parents and boss would be worried sick...

And I was supposed to not worry?

What kind of princess was this anyways?

* * *

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

I rolled over and slapped the alarm clock to silence it.

Fingers...

Skin...

a small couch with an alarm clock on the floor and a TV showing The Animaniacs.

"So it really was a dream..."

My doorbell rang.


	2. 3: Accident

**Chapter 3: Accident**

I stumbled from the couch with a grunt, and Mishmash jumped from my lap before I hit the floor with my feet. After a moment of regaining my balance I let out a sigh.

Another ring of the doorbell.

I rubbed my eyes and let out a yawn, half walking half stumbling to the door.

When I opened it I was surprised at who was standing there and what she was holding.

"Felicia?"

She was wearing jeans and a peach sweat shirt, and her hair looked like it had been groomed perfectly. If it weren't for the slightly welted black eye she would have looked perfect.

"Good morning," she said softly.

In her hands was a small tray with two cups of what smelled like coffee with a dash of cinnamon.

"I uh... made you some coffee. Would you like some?"

"Yeah... yeah sure."

I took one of the cups and took a sip. It was delicious, with just the right amount of heat. Not too bitter, not too sweet, with the awesome flavor of cinnamon to back it up.

"This is really frikkin' good."

"I'm glad you like it," she said with a soft laugh, "I have to go up to the roof to feed the birds now."

I don't know why I said it.

"You know what? Let me come with you, I'll help you feed them."

"Oh... I... I couldn't, you might scare them."

"Nah, how hard could it be? It's just laying out some feed right?"

"I suppose so. Well, yes..."

* * *

The roof had an amazing view of the city, that was for sure.

In the center was a large vent fan, neighbored by the small coop Felicia had spoken of earlier. Several pigeons were already gathering, and for a roof swarmed by pooping birds every morning it was extremely clean.

"So this is it huh?"

"Yes."

She handed me a small bag of feed and we set about business.

"So," I said, tossing a small amount of feed inside the coop, "What's your job? You know... aside from feeding birds."

"I work at a daycare center. The children can sometimes be troublesome, but it's a good job, and I like doing it."

"You seem kind of meek to be handling crazy kids every day."

"Heh... I've had to adjust. A few months ago I would have never been able to talk to you the way I did last night."

"Shy?"

She nodded, "Mm, even now it's difficult."

I tried not to let it bug me that I dreamt of her in the form of a small and socially inept pony the night before, especially considering as I had just met her. "Well, it's good that you can talk to me, I would have been a bit too worried about you last night if you couldn't even say a word. Speaking of which, how's the eye?"

"Oh, it'll be alright. It's the first time he got that bad, so I knew I would have to call the police right away."

"Right... hey listen, I gotta get going to work, if I'm late the boss man is gonna kill me, so."

"Right, have a good day."

"You too Felicia."

* * *

My job consisted of answering phone calls for customer service. The company I worked for was an out of the way computer company that refused to outsource, but was having a bit of trouble hiring people with the right qualifications. If there was one thing I loved more than cleaning the barrel of a gun so it could fire another day, it was building a computer from scratch.

I barely had my resume' through the door before they hired me, and just like that I had been working at Tom's Computers ever since I'd gotten back, and had even earned a few raises from my good work.

It was hard to find companies like that, so I counted my blessings and brought my best to work every day.

Granted we still had cramped cubicles, but the boss didn't give a crap what we decorated them with, and it was a very open work place, nobody was offended by anything.

It was the ideal work spot, the kind that people searched high and low for until they ended up settling into a mediocre zombie job.

I enjoyed my time in the military, and I enjoyed this job, but aside from a picture of a koala nothing else held its home as a decoration in my cubicle.

My cubicle neighbor Phoebe Packard on the other hand, was a completely different story.

"Psst..."

I had just finished a particularly blaring round of what we like to call 'stupid calls' when Phoebe poked her head over the edge of her cubicle, just enough so that I could see her large blue eyes, but not her mouth.

Her blindingly blonde hair was pulled into a tight bun, and looked like it was about ready to explode at a moment's notice.

It fit her character well, the woman was a ticking time bomb, and I was surprised she was wearing anything other than a straight jacket.

Above her floated a group of bright pink balloons tied to the corner of her desk. The balloons were emblazoned with large yellow letters that looked like they had cake frosting dripping off them, 'Life is a Party' indeed Phoebe.

"Hello Phoebe."

"I just got an EXTREMELY important call Billy!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! It was this lady who was having trouble with her computer."

"Erm... isn't that just a regular call?"

"Nonononono, you see. This was super duper important because it was for her son's birthday!"

"... And?"

Phoebe let out a long gasp of horror, "Billy I thought you were better than this! This computer was for her son's BIRTHDAY! If something you give someone at an awesome party doesn't work that's... that's... NOT GOOD!"

"Did you take your meds this morning?"

"Meds?"

"And there's your problem."

I couldn't see her lips, but her eyes went into a glare, and I could tell she was frowning, "You don't understand, I have to take these papers up to the boss, I need you to take this call Billy! The party must go on!"

"Alright already, just do what you need to do Phoebe."

I felt a pair of arms wrap in a death grip around my neck and a kiss planted on my cheek.

The next instant she was walking away giggling, "Thanks Billy! Line five is where it's at!"

I rolled my eyes and picked up the phone, hitting the button for line five. "Tom's Computers, customer service, this is William speaking, how may I assist you today?"

_"Hello William, my name is Barbara."_

I frowned, she sounded elderly. "Hello Barbara."

_"Right... My son Gregory works at the police station as a jailer, and he loves those virtual games you can play on the computer, so I bought him a nice one from Mr. Thomas' store."_

"We're a third party seller Ma'am, we make most of our profit from parts, and we sell the computers from other companies, do you know what kind of computer it was?"

_"It was... oh what do you call those fancy ones, Alienware?"_

"Alright, do you know the model?"

_"I have it written down here..."_

By the time the call was done I had counted it at about a half and hour, and she was up and running again, I was slightly annoyed that Phoebe shoved her workload into my zone, but there was no helping it, so instead of complaining I went back to work.

By the time Phoebe had made it back it was ten minutes to closing time, and her grin was aimed at me, "You're awesome Billy! I'm throwing you a party!"

"Um... no thanks."

She frowned, "No, I'm throwing you a party and you're going to be there. Check your schedule and let me know when you're free tomorrow."

"Okay okay, sheesh."

Pushy much?

* * *

"So William, how was your day?"

I sighed and put my hands behind my head, staring at the spinning oak fan in an effort to sort of hypnotize myself and relax.

"Phoebe wants to throw me a party," I said in the most monotone voice I could muster.

Doc laughed, "Maybe you should go. If it's a party you could see some new faces, and it seems like you're finally comfortable enough to start talking to people again."

"Yeah, she didn't leave me much choice in the matter anyways. I barely got away from the welcoming party when I first started working at Tom's place, and I guess I could have only put it off for so long before she caught me."

"Hmm, a little more time and you won't need to come see me at all William."

"Ha, you know I love your company Doc."

"That I do. Maybe... when this is all done, we should have a toast."

"Didn't take you for a bar hopper Doc."

"I said a toast, but if we have to go to a bar, then that's alright with me."

"You got yourself a deal."

"Anything interesting happen aside from Ms. Packard's usual antics?"

"I met my neighbor yesterday night, Felicia Shirley."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, real sweet girl, feeds the pigeons on our roof apparently, kind of shy though."

"I see."

* * *

I slid the key to the apartment door into the hole and twisted, opening it to be greeted by a set of stairs and our mailman, Deborah Hollie.

"Hey Deb."

"Heya Will."

She turned to me and I smiled and let out a sigh.

The girl was about my height, and had a very obvious lazy eye. She was kind of a klutz, but she was good at her job and was friends with pretty much everyone in the building who didn't stay locked in their cave all day, "Whatcha got for me today?"

She scratched the back of her head and grinned, "Sorry I'm late today, there was a huge accident down by the post office." She handed me a small stack of mail, and I was glad to see there were no bills, at least not yet.

"Ah don't worry about it. What happened by the post office?"

"A girl got hit."

"... Huh?"

"Yeah." Deborah's gaze fell. "She was on her way back home from the library and got hit by a taxi. They say she's in critical condition."

I didn't know why, but a feeling of dread much like one I would get down range crept its way up my spine, "Do you um... know anything about her?"

"No. She's friends with Ms. Shirley I think."

"Felicia?"

"Yeah."

I tucked the mail into my belt and went back the way I came, "Thanks for the mail Deb, I'll see you later."

"Huh? Where are you going?"

I didn't bother answering, I rushed to the corner and started waving and whistling like a madman, "Taxi! Taxi!"

It wasn't long until one of them pulled up and I was in the back seat.

"Take me to um..."

The hospital closest to the post office...

"Uh... Lankard Memorial Hospital please."

"You got it pal."

"Make it quick."

* * *

"No you don't understand, I'm here to see Felicia Shirley, she's a friend of mine, her friend got hurt and I'm worried."

The obese lady behind the counter sighed and rolled her eyes for what must have been the fifth time since I had walked into the rather large lobby of the hospital.

"And I told you already sir, we can't just have strangers running around. The family has been called and the close friends have been confirmed, you're not one of them."

I didn't want to understand, I wanted to leap over the counter and hit her.

For some reason I thought about Fluttershy, and what would have happened in my dream had one of her friends been hurt, or worse.

"Bill?" I turned around at the soft voice that came from behind me, and was surprised to see Felicia, "What are you doing here?"

"Deb told me one of your friends got hurt and I um... got worried."

Felicia looked down, tears in her eyes, "Tammy, she... she got hit, and Rachel isn't here yet, and I... I..."

"Hey," I stepped forward and put a hand gently on her shoulder, "It's gonna be alright, I'm sure your friend is on the way."

"What the hell is going on?"

Then I saw her.

She damn near broke the door barging into the hospital, rushed past several people who gave her incredulous looks, and came upon Felicia and I like a tornado. I almost flinched away when she turned her glare towards me, "Who is this guy?"

Felicia flinched, but swallowed and started to talk, "He's um... he's my neighbor, he heard that my friend got hurt and came here to make sure I was okay."

I did a double take.

About a foot and a half shorter than me, her hair was as long as mid back, and was styled at the top like a punk rocker would have it, but she didn't go overboard with it. What she did go overboard with were the streaks of a dyed rainbow pattern going all the way through her otherwise blonde hair.

I felt my eye start twitching.

"Dash?"

"What?" asked the girl.

"Erm... nothing."

"My name is Rachel, Rachel Daniels, you?"

"William Jenkins, I met Felicia yesterday when that guy was tossing her around."

Suddenly as she had come bursting onto the scene, her expression changed from a glare to a wide grin, and she locked her arm around my neck and started giving me a noogie of all things, "HAHA you sly dog, she told me all about that! Didn't know it was someone good looking as YOU though. Hey, need help getting her pants off?"

"Rachel... now's not the time," muttered Felicia, "I know I was kind of vague over the phone, but Tammy... she's in critical condition."

The noogie stopped instantly and I was untangled, Rachel looked shocked, "She what?"

"She was... she was hit by a car."

Rachel frowned and stepped forward to give her friend a hug, "I'm so sorry Felicia."

"I... I don't know what to do Rachel."

Then Felicia started crying into Rachel's shoulder, and I felt like I'd been hit by a ton of bricks.

After what seemed like an eternity Rachel pulled away slowly as Felicia started to calm down, "Is she still in surgery?"

Felicia shook her head, "No, I've just been afraid to go see her. The doctors say she's not awake yet."

"Alright, come on Shy Buns, you too Prince Charming."

* * *

The room was small and brought out feelings of claustrophobia. The steady beep of an EKG almost caused me to slip away into one of my flashbacks, but we weren't there to worry about me.

In fact, I didn't know why I was there in the first place. I had only known Felicia a day.

"Visiting hours are almost over," said the nurse gently, pushing aside the curtains surrounding the girl's bed.

My eyes widened when I saw her.

The girl I ran into on the intersection the day before, battered and bruised.

It was easy to recognize her dark purple hair with the magenta line.

For some reason I panicked a little.

"Is it alright if we sleep in the waiting room?"

I didn't know why I asked, but the nurse smiled, "Normally we wouldn't allow that, but since your friend is in critical condition and her family won't be here until tomorrow... I'll talk to Doctor Jameson."

To this day I don't know why she bent the rules for us.

Maybe it had something to do with how worried Felicia looked, or maybe it was Rachel's strength, or maybe... maybe she was just a really good nurse who wanted the best for her patients, even if she had to break a few rules and regulations along the way.

That night we slept in the uncomfortable chairs of the waiting room in the center of the second floor, a few yards away from Tammy's room.

Felicia clung to Rachel like she was her lifeline.

And me, I was afraid the nightmares would come back.

They did... but not in the way I thought they would.

* * *

"Mister, you gotta wake up! Wake up!"

My eyes snapped open, and I was greeted by the sight of a very worried, very distraught looking spikey creature.

"Wha... I... huh?"

"Please get up! Somethings wrong with Twilight!"

Somewhere in my gut I knew exactly what was wrong.

It was a good thing I knew how to listen to my gut.


	3. 4: Running Parallel

**A/N: Drop some reviews please!**

**Chapter 4: Running Parallel**

I tried not to let myself worry too much, after all, it made sense that something happened to Twilight, I saw her get hurt when I was awake, so naturally something would happen to her while I was dreaming.

Then again...

What was up with Rachel? Why had I meant her after Rainbow Dash in my 'dream'?

Not only that, but said dream was extremely vivid, and upon waking I remembered it as if it had actually taken place. The memories of the events that had transpired in 'Ponyville' were still fresh in my mind.

And there I was again, standing over a heavily breathing Twilight, tucked in her bed with a wet towel on her head.

"What's going on?" I asked Spike, who had just replaced the first towel.

He looked up at me and frowned, "I don't know, she just started running a fever, and when I talk to her it's like she barely hears me. I don't know what to do!"

"First of all, stop panicking."

"But..."

"I've panicked enough, and you have too, I think I saw this coming."

"You what?"

"It's a long story. I just had a feeling Twilight would get hurt."

"Who?"

"Um... Twilight."

"Who?"

"Spike are you even..."

"That wasn't me."

Spike pointed to the head board of Twilight's bed, perched there was a strange little owl. It spun its head around once and looked me right in the eyes, "Who."

I sighed and shook my head, "Right, whatever, do you guys have a hospital around here?"

"Uh, yeah."

"It might be a good idea to get her there."

* * *

The doctor and the nurse seemed like they knew what they were doing, and checked Twilight into her own room with no hesitation. There were no questions about insurance or being able to pay, they just tossed her into a room and made sure she had everything she needed. After that was done they sent for her friends.

Spike and I waited outside as they set everything up, and it was... awkward to say the least.

"How did you know what happened to Twilight?"

I sighed and sat next to the door, "I didn't say I knew, I said I thought I knew it was going to happen."

"Okay." Spike looked back and forth through the hall, as if he were making sure there was noone around to hear our conversation, "So how did you know it was going to happen?"

"Would you believe me if I told you?"

Spike smirked and crossed his arms, "You're talking to Twilight Sparkle's number one assistant, I've seen some crazy stuff."

"Alright, I warned you. You already know that I'm human."

"Yep."

"What if I told you that I met Twilight before arriving in Equestria?"

"You what?" Spike shook his head and dug into his ears with his claws, trying to make sure he heard me correctly.

"I said I met her before coming here. Honestly, I'm not even sure if this is all a dream or not."

"Wait, but you can't go back home."

"That's the thing, I did go back home... last night when I was asleep. Let's say this isn't a dream, when I go to sleep in one world I wake up in the other, you know anything about that?" Spike shrugged, and I sighed, "I figured you wouldn't, and as knowledgeable as she is I doubt even Twilight knows. Let's say that, hypothetically, I'm not dreaming, and these worlds are somehow connected. I was walking home when I ran into Twilight, she was human, like me, but it was definitely her. Last night she got injured on her way back home, and I went to see her in the hospital with her friends, we fell asleep there, and you know the rest."

"That's crazy."

"Thought you said you've seen some crazy stuff."

Spike crossed his arms and grinned, "Yep, but what you're saying is pretty out there."

I sighed, "I know, I still don't know whether this is all a dream or not."

Our conversation was cut short when I heard the echo of hooves on the linoleum tiles of the hallway. Around the corner came Rainbow Dash, followed by Fluttershy and three more ponies I didn't recognize... scratch that, one of them looked eerily familiar. A pink pony, her trot was almost like a bounce, and her mane looked like cotton candy... kind of like it could explode at any moment.

Before I had time to process where I had seen the pink one Dash spoke, "We came as fast as we could, what's going on?"

"Twilight's been hurt," I said.

The ponies looked worried, that was for sure.

"An' who in tarnation is this?" One of the ponies I didn't recognize stepped forward, she wore on her head what appeared to be an old fashioned ten gallon hat, and was orange with a blonde mane tied at the end.

"My name is William, William Jenkins."

"Well that's a rather odd name." This time it was the white one who spoke. Her mane and her tail were curled perfectly, and I had a feeling I'd seen her somewhere before as well, but I knew for a fact I didn't know her personally, "I'm Rarity," she said softly, "This is Applejack," she gestured to the orange one.

"And I'm Pinkie Pie!" The pink pony leapt forward and I was greeted with the enthusiasm of an entire surprise party, she grabbed my hoof and shook it up and down.

Ah... that voice. I would recognize it anywhere.

'Life is a party' indeed Phoebe.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"Uh huh, we'll get you set up with a party as soon as Twilight's feeling better!"

I didn't think it was physically possible for Phoebe to rope me into two short notice parties, much less in different worlds.

"So what happened to Twilight?" asked Dash.

"Well, like I said, she's hurt."

Spike looked up at me and frowned, "Are you sure about this?"

Under the scrutiny of her friends I became slightly less sure of my theory, but honestly, with everything that had been happening what I pitched to Spike wasn't that hard to believe. The question was whether it was the truth or not. I had no way to test the theory, and I wouldn't want to anyways, considering it obviously required someone to be hurt in the process.

"The short of it is this," I said, "I'm not from this world."

"He's a human," said Dash.

Rarity tilted her head, "A human? What is that?"

I let out a laugh, "If I described what we looked like to you then you would probably think I was ugly or something."

"They're like monkeys," said Dash.

I sighed, "There are... better ways to put it. Anyways, passing on that for a moment, I told Spike exactly what I'm about to tell you. I'm not sure if I'm dreaming or not, but it looks like there are human versions of you guys in my world."

"This is all fine an' dandy, but what's it got to do with Twilight bein' hurt?"

"She... her um... human version, was hurt. I went to the hospital to see her with her friends and fell asleep there, when I woke up in Ponyville she was like this. This is just a random thought, I don't know if that's what's really happening, I don't even know if all this is real."

Pinkie Pie frowned at me and sat on her haunches, "Well obviously it's real Billy! You're right there, and I'm here, and if I'm not real then that would mean I'm just a figment of your imagination and that would be weeeeeiiiiird, and honestly I think that it would be cool if you were right because that means there's another Pinkie out there and maybe we could meet and we could..."

"Slooow down there Sugarcube. Ain't there anythin' we can do to help?"

"I don't know. It'd probably be safer to leave it to the doctors, and make sure she knows you guys are here for her, but other than that there's not much you can do. I'll do what I can on my side of things, and hopefully this works out for the better. I can only assume that if she gets better on my side then she'll be okay over here."

Fluttershy, who had been quiet up until now, stepped forward and kicked her hoof on the ground, avoiding eye contact with me, "Um... when you said you went to the hospital with her friends... who was there?"

"You and Dash, why?"

"That's odd," mumbled Rarity, "Wouldn't we all be there?"

I shrugged, "I don't know if you all know each other."

"Alright," said Applejack, "This is gettin' a bit weird for my tastes."

Before we could continue our conversation, the doctor stepped from Twilight's room and let out a sigh, "She's not responsive, it's like she's somewhere else entirely, I could..."

The door shut behind him, and I could hear the echos of an EKG.

**_The medical tent was packed to the brim, I could tell that much._**

**_The ambush had been brutal, but somehow, most of us had survived._**

**_Medical personnel rushed to and fro trying to keep up with the injured soldiers._**

I shook my head and took a few deep breaths.

"Are you okay dear?" asked Rarity.

"Yeah... yeah I just need some fresh air."

With that I made my way down the hall and out of the hospital. The fresh air really did help. Hospitals weren't exactly my most favorite places, and I was surprised at myself that I was more than likely sleeping in one at that very moment.

I didn't need to be in another one unless absolutely necessary.

I made my way to a patch of grass nearest the hospital and let myself fall into a laying position. I took a few deep breaths, "Shit I need a drink."

"Well I can't help you with that, but I AM deathly curious as to who you are."

I closed my eyes and sighed, trying to get comfortable on the grass, "Rarity was it?"

"Yes."

I could hear her close to me, probably standing right above me. "Well," I said, "Not much to tell really, you know what I am and that I'm not from around here. Shouldn't you be seeing to Twilight."

"I already did," she said softly, "Not much to say to somepony that can't hear you."

"Aren't you worried?"

"That depends on whether or not she's in good hooves."

"Or hands in my case. I can't do much, she's already been checked into the hospital, we're sleeping there right now."

"Who is?"

"Me, Fluttershy, and Dash."

"Well, regardless, you must understand that Twilight is the one that brought us all together William, and if she's in danger we'll do everything we can to help her, and I would hope that you'd be able to understand that."

_"JENKINS!"_

_"WE'RE GETTING THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"_

"You have no idea," I muttered.

Rarity giggled, "I'm glad then, I would hate to have somepony who wasn't confident in themselves looking after her."

"So you trust me, just like that?"

"Twilight and Spike trust you, do they not?"

"I guess so. I'm just hard pressed to meet people like you. Trust is a hard thing to come by where I'm from."

"Well I'm sure it has its merits."

"It doesn't hurt to be a bit more defensive I suppose. I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I'll do everything I can to help Twilight."

"You act tough, but your rather tender on the inside aren't you?"

"That's me."

Rarity went back inside, and I closed my eyes.

I wondered if I fell asleep would I wake up in my world again? My stray thought wasn't satisfied, I wasn't tired enough to slip into a nap; I quickly became bored though.

The sun was at mid sky by the time all of Twilight's worried friends had exited and met outside the hospital. Really, who could blame them? They knew as much about what was happening as I did, and explaining my flawed little theory to them didn't do much to help.

Ultimately their friend was still sick, and possibly in danger.

I looked up at the group and they all waved at me. Pinkie Pie grinned and bounced up and down before hopping off, presumably to set up a party for when Twilight got better.

They scattered, all except Rainbow Dash, who walked straight to me.

"It would be the normal thing to do... letting the hospital handle it that is," she said.

"Your friends don't seem too worried."

"That's because I told them what I'm about to tell you. You said she was injured right? Let's say for a second that I believe you, what happened?"

"She was hit by a car."

"A car?"

"It's like... a drawn carriage that runs by itself with a mechanical device, no horses required, just a guy in the driver's seat and a key to get it started. They can go fast, and when they hit someone it's usually lethal."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"There are rules so things like this don't happen, but you know... accidents happen, the best that people can do is minimize them. Anyways, you were going to tell me something?"

"Yeah, the veil."

"The what?"

"Ugh..." Dash rolled her eyes and kicked me softly with her front hoof, obviously wanting me to get up. "Listen up! There's a reason I knew about you."

"Oh yeah?"

She cleared her throat and looked around, almost as if she were slightly ashamed of something, "I like to read okay?" I didn't think I would ever see a pony blush, but there it was.

"Yeah?"

"And you know... Twilight kind of lives in a library. It started small, with these awesome books called Daring Do."

I couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "Daring Do? Are you serious?"

"Shut up! Anyways, the point is that there's this veil. The only reason humans have been written about is because a pony crossed it a long time ago, but ever since then it's been forbidden."

"And why's that?"

"Well I mean think about it," she said with a glare, knocking me lightly on the head with her hoof as I stood up, "Would you let anypony you knew randomly go to a world where they didn't belong?"

"Where did this veil even come from?"

"Nopony knows, all we know is that it's bad news, but..."

"But?"

"If there's a version of Twilight hurt over there, and it's affecting our Twilight like you said, then maybe we could send you over with something that helps."

"You've got to be kidding, would that even work?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a try, I hate just sitting back and doing nothing."

"More prone to taking action, huh?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, "What you said in there is crazy, but I've seen crazy before, we all have. We've agreed to take you to the veil, but I don't know if we have anything you don't. What's wrong with her?"

I let out a sigh and scuffed the ground with my front hoof, "Well, she might have some broken bones and a concussion, maybe even some lacerations, even with help it'll be a few weeks before she's let out of the hospital."

Dash raised an eyebrow, "It takes weeks?" Then slowly, her look of confusion was replaced with excitement, "Oh man this is GREAT! I don't know how different you guys are but this means there's something that can help!"

"Wha..."

"Broken bones are a cinch. I broke my wing and I was only wrapped up for a few days! Might as well have been a month though..."

"How?"

"I don't know how medicine works! Do I look like a doctor to you?"

I smiled, "You raise a good point there."

"Okay, so we'll just give you a handful of stuff..."

"And then throw me through the veil. THAT'S not risky at all."

"Do you want to?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't."

"AWESOME!" Dash jumped in a way that reminded me of Pinkie Pie, then tackled me to the ground in a bear hug. After a moment of me not being able to breathe she had composed herself and we were standing again, "One problem though..."

"That is?"

"You still can't fly, and it'll probably take a few days to actually get you going."

"So we pack up and head out. We'll hoof it, you can teach me to fly on the way. Our priority right now is helping Twilight, and I can't make you guys stay behind just because I need to learn to fly. Get the medicine we need, pack up for the trip, and we'll just go."

Dash nodded and ran to the hospital, and I was once again left waiting outside.

* * *

The rest of the day passed quickly in preparation for the trip to that veil thing. Everyone packed, and there was even a bag prepared for me, given to me by Rainbow Dash. Everyone was in agreement that we would head out first thing in the morning, so Dash decided to spend the remainder of the day trying to get me to fly.

I managed to make it off the ground, but I couldn't stay up for long, so we called it a night.

Spike lead me back to the library, and before I knew it I was in bed, trying to get to sleep.

It was easier than I thought it would be; exhaustion crept up on me and I drifted off.

When my eyes opened the first thing I noticed was the pain in my neck. I brought my hand up and rubbed it, twisting my head around to get a crack out of it.

Letting out a yawn, I opened my eyes and saw Felicia and Rachel perched against each other a few chairs away from me, sound asleep.

I found myself hoping that the dreams I was having were real...

Because if they were, then I could help Tammy, and we could all have one less thing to worry about.


	4. 5: A Friend

**Chapter 5: A Friend**

I leaned back in the waiting room chair and heard the soft noise of a TV propped on the corner of the ceiling.

It was being alone that made me think more than I liked to. Sure Felicia and Rachel were there, but they were still out cold, and it would be rude to wake them after a night like that. I flexed my left shoulder, trying to get the bruising pain to pass from the gunshot wound.

Instead of sitting there thinking I went to the front desk and asked if they had any bandages I could use to change out for my wound. In about fifteen minutes I was back in the waiting room, which still housed two sleeping girls, so I sat down and decided to watch the quiet TV in the corner of the waiting room.

_"Back to you Hannah."_

"Thank you Tom. Rising crime rates in the city have the public in a bit of a panic. The police have issued an official statement, assuring that they are doing the best they can to quell the drastic spike in criminal activity. We go live now to James Littleton, who is at the police station."

The camera blacked out and came back on to a skinny looking man with black hair and a microphone, _"Thank you Hannah. We're here with the Chief of Police, who surprisingly has a lot to say on the matter. Sir, what do you think is causing the sudden rise in crime, and what's the best way of alleviating it?"_

The camera panned a bit to the left and the microphone was put close to the face of a man in a police uniform who looked to be in his late thirties, _"Well it could be several things, we've seen an especially alarming number of youth in the harsher parts of the city taking to crime. Ultimately, this'll happen in every city with a large population, crime spikes every now and again, and our job is to get it back down, even if that's easier said than done. As for the methods we're using, higher patrol rates, longer hours, more officers. More crime equals more cops."_

_"Sounds like you've got it covered then, is there anything else you'd like to say?"_

"Yeah, be careful at night, always have your friends with you."

"Simple, and yet wise advice, Hannah?"

I sighed and perched my hand on my cheek. I was getting bored already. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my smart phone, dialing a number.

After a few rings I heard a click, _"This is Thomas Best."_

"Hey boss, I'm calling in."

_"Alright, you sick?"_

"No, a friend got hurt."

_"Ah, how long will you be?"_

"Just a day is fine."  
_  
"It's alright, we've got heavy manning today, and you know Ms. Packard, that woman moves at inhuman speeds."_

I let out a laugh, "Thanks boss."

_"Alright, seeya tomorrow."_

"Yeah, bye."

I felt a hand land on my shoulder and heard a laugh, "Isn't that a bit weird?"

I looked behind me and there was Rachel, with what I could only describe as a shit-eating grin on her face, ""Isn't what weird?"

"You only know Felicia, and you just met me. You don't know Tammy, so why'd you call her a friend."

I grinned sheepishly, "Erm... any friend of Felicia's is a friend of mine."

Did I mention before that I'm bad at lying?

"Right." Rachel shook her head and laughed, "Listen, as grateful as I am, you hardly know Felicia, you shouldn't skip work for a bunch of random girls you hardly even know."

I sighed and shook my head, "I have a problem."

"Oh?"

"I tend to not be able to ignore people that need help."

There was a moment of silence, and then Rachel started laughing...

and laughing, and laughing, and laughing.

It was at least a minute before she calmed down, "Oh man you are CLASSIC! I've never met a guy like you before. You trying to get Felicia's attention or something?"

I couldn't stop the blush, "Wha... NO!"

She grinned and gestured to the still sleeping girl, "Hey, who could blame you? Good luck." With another laugh she slapped me on the back and went to sit down with Felicia again.

I sighed, 'Shouldn't she be more worried?'

* * *

Ten minutes later Felicia was still asleep, and I decided to step outside the back for a smoke. The alley wasn't that dirty, but as all alleys were, it was mostly deserted and housed the hospital's trash bins. I rarely smoked, usually only when I was under stress or celebrating something for a special occasion, but I always carried a pack and a lighter with me. The box of Marbs in my pocket was down to one, but it had lasted me quite a long time; I couldn't even remember when I bought it.

I popped the smoke in my mouth and lit it before taking a deep drag.

It felt good.

This was good to do occasionally.

I hoped Twilight would be okay.

"Well, how are you?"

I looked to my right where the voice had come from.

"Having a late morning smoke?" The man speaking was in a grey hoodie with the hood pulled up, and wore tattered jeans that looked like they'd been sent through the grinder. He was pale... very pale, and his hair was done in dreadlocks that peaked out from his hood. He wore a necklace with an upside down cross, "that's always nice to do, but isn't juicy gossip so much more fun?"

He had an accent, but I couldn't quite place it. His voice was eerily smooth, and made me slightly uncomfortable.

My eyes narrowed, "Who are you?"

He grinned, "Just a friend William, just a friend."

The cigarette dropped to the ground and I stepped back, "How the hell do you know my name?"

"You must be soooo worried for your newest dear friend Twilight Sparkle."

My eyes widened and adrenaline coursed through me. Whoever this guy was he KNEW, and that meant my dreams were real, but then...

"Who the fuck are you? Answer me!"

He laughed, it was a sound that echoed in my head like an orchestra, "Oh you are too easy William, much too easy. You anger far too quickly and are very fun to play with. Tell me William..." He reached behind him, still with that grin on his face, and his hand emerged with a combat knife, "I'm sure you'd recognize what this is William, after all you've seen them quite often."

I set my left foot back and crouched down, widening my stance.

"Oh hooo, ready to fight are we? I wouldn't expect anything less, however..." he threw the knife in one of the many trash bins, "That's not what I'm here to do William, I detest getting my hands dirty after all. I merely wanted your response."

"And?"

His grin calmed into a smile, "And you passed with flying colors. Deep inside you is a killer William, a man of blood and violence, and honestly that's my favorite thing about this world." He turned to walk away, then stopped abruptly, "Oh, silly me I almost forgot."

There he was, a few meters away, in no way could he physically reach me in the amount of time that he did. He was on me in less than a second, digging his thumb into my forehead with a mad grin, "I never got any REAL chaos over there William, but here? Humans revel in it! It's fantastic, isn't it?"

My eyes widened, and I saw white.

**_"Do you honestly think you can do anything to save her? Do you think she even cares who you are? So you bumped into her on the street, whoopty do!"_**

"Jenkins... Jenkins wake up man. We gotta keep moving."

I felt the heat of the sun baring down on me. I felt hot sand on my right cheek, it was burning my face, but I could hardly move, and I was short of breath and on the verge of heat exhaustion.

"C'mon Jenkins, we gotta get to the rally point." I felt and arm snake under mine and heard a grunt of exertion. I put some effort into putting weight on me feet and moving with him, I didn't want him to have to carry my dead weight and I was still aware enough to help out a buddy.

"I don't think I'm gonna make it." I could barely talk, my tongue hurt and my throat felt like it was bleeding.

"You're not done yet Jenkins."

I tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a pathetic croak. I knew I was out of ammo, and my partner only had one magazine left.

I couldn't keep moving forever, I would eventually give into the heat and die in the desert.

"Leave me," I mumbled.

"You're fuckin' crazy man."

"Even if you can carry me... I'm gonna die. You got a wife back home, I don't have anybody."

"Bullshit... bullshit you got your parents man."

"I don't even... talk to them anymore."

"Fuck you." He solidified his grip on me and started moving a bit faster, "We're both getting to the FOB, I don't care how much you moan and complain at me." He let me down to the ground in a sitting position and started messing with his gear, I couldn't tell what he was doing because my vision was too blurry, but I heard a lot of shuffling around.

"Alright, your turn Jenkins." I felt him grab my vest and pull it off, and after that my helmet. After a few moments all I had was the load baring equipment and the pistol that was out of ammo.

I saw what he was doing, if we ditched the heavy stuff we had a better chance of making it all the way, but if we ran into the enemy we were screwed.

Still, we were low on ammo anyways; it was less of a risk to ditch the equipment and keep going than it was to die of exhaustion.

When he pulled me up the desert looked a lot less endless.

* * *

"William... are you okay?"

My eyes snapped open, and I heard the wail of police sirens several blocks away. It took me a moment to realize that I had fainted in the alley...

No, I didn't faint; I had been knocked out by that weird guy in the hoodie.

"What the hell are you doing sleeping out here?"

Above me stood Felicia and Rachel. I noticed that the sun was on the verge of going down and cursed under my breath, "I wasn't sleeping. I gotta get home." I stood with some difficulty, and Felicia helped hold me up when I got a bit wobbly.

Rachel huffed and crossed her arms, "You're kidding me, we looked everywhere for you and that's it? You're just going home."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed, "Listen, I've got something important to do... just... I'll meet you guys here tomorrow after work, okay?"

Rachel's expression became less hostile, "Alright, see you then I guess."

"I'll be behind you," said Felicia.

"Sure you don't want me to walk you home?"

Rachel grinned, "Easy there lover boy, I'll walk her."

I rolled my eyes, "Alright, I'll see you both tomorrow," then I turned and walked out of the alley.

Hopefully I would be able to catch a taxi.

* * *

I made it home no worse for the wear, and Mishmash was there to greet me as usual.

I fed him and then sat on the couch with a heavy sigh, turning the TV on as I did so.

Then I began to think.

Whoever that guy was he creeped me the hell out, and whatever he did to me obviously put me under for quite a bit.

He mentioned Twilight's name, which, though on the verge of the impossible, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that my 'dreams' were the real thing.

'Tonight then. Tonight's when we leave for the veil.'

Just as dusk began to turn the sky orange I laid down and fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up with a start, and was immediately pulling my bag out from under the bed. It was effectively a saddle bag, and with some amount of effort I got it onto my back in a comfortable position.

"Spike, get up, we're leaving!"


	5. 6: The Everfree Forest

**Chapter 6: The Everfree Forest**

Spike stumbled down the stairs of the library, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and letting out a yawn, "What time is it?"

I frowned and eyed the window upstairs; it was definitely dark out. I still wanted to hurry, an early morning start wasn't our biggest problem at the time. "Does it really matter?"

Spike nodded, and was by my side with a little more energy as we stepped outside. I wasn't expecting it, but one of Twilight's friends was already there, Pinkie Pie.

"Hi there!" she shouted, trotting over to me with a grin, "I just wanted to say thanks! It's super awesome what you're doing for Twilight. Everyone else is at Fluttershy's house so we should hurry too."

As we started to walk I noticed that Pinkie wasn't bouncing around as usual. She sounded like she usually did, just a little less energetic. "Hey... is Twilight okay?"

"Yepperoni!"

"Huh?"

"Why'd you ask such a silly question? I mean yeah I was super worried at first, but then Dashie came up with this plan, which means both our Twilight's are gonna be a-okay."

'But what if Dash's plan doesn't work?'

I didn't ask it out loud. I could only imagine how worried everyone had been at the hospital. It was then I realized that Rarity and Dash had been putting on an extremely strong front. These five ponies were desperate enough to journey for something that they weren't even sure of, and desperate enough to trust some stranger they had met the day before to help their friend.

And me?

I was desperate enough to go along with it.

We started passing through the main part of town, and the quiet was getting to me.

Phoebe had never been this quiet, and if Pinkie was then she was definitely still worried. I decided to fill the silence with whatever I could come up with.

"Hey Pinkie?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever met someone that could... I dunno, get into your head and mess with it?"

"Like literally walk into my brain? Hmmmm, nope!"

"Not quite what I was going for."

"OH, OH! You mean like make you see stuff?"

"A little bit closer to what I had in mind, yeah."

Pinkie suddenly stopped when we were halfway through town. She turned on me and brought herself up to her hindlegs, planting her front hooves on my shoulders, "Did he have a weird voice?"

"A weird voice? I guess so. What's that got to do with..."

"Did he make it rain chocolate?"

"Chocolate, what does that even..."

"No chocolate rain? I'm sure you'll be fine then!" She smiled and bopped my nose with her hoof before letting go, and we were back on the road again.

I decided not to question Pinkie Pie further, as it only seemed to make things more confusing and chaotic, and that was the last thing I needed.

I ended up going off into my own little world, and before I knew it we had already passed Fluttershy's house and were standing at a line of extremely ominous trees. The entire thing was pulled right out of a Stephen King novel. The branches of these trees were gnarled and looked more like teeth that would tear flesh, the sky above the forest was a dark grey that didn't quite look like a rainstorm, and from within the forest I heard several unnatural sounding animal calls.

Everything about this forest screamed at trespassers to stay out of it, and waiting at the small opening that lead into the monstrous trees were the rest of Twilight's friends.

Rarity stepped forward and smiled, "I'm glad I was right about you."

I frowned and looked away, scuffing the ground with my front hoof.

"Alright!" shouted Dash, "Enough hanging around, we're going right now. The veil is a two day trip and we need to get there as soon as possible."

Two days in Ponyland before I could even think about helping Tammy recover. The thought was enough to drive me past the barrier of this forest with Twilight's friends.

* * *

Our little group made good headway as the sun came up and reached mid sky. We hadn't spoken much since we entered the forest, which I thought was a little odd considering how talkative everyone had been in the days before.

It was as we emerged from a particularly bad patch of vines and found a dirt path again that I decided to break the silence, "So what's this place called anyways?"

"The Everfree forest," said Spike, coming up on my flank.

Dash flew to my side and landed, matching my pace, "Normally we don't go too deep into the forest, but we'll have to travel all the way through to reach the veil, so we'll probably run into some nasty stuff."

I turned my head and looked at the group behind us, most of them were doing fine except one, Fluttershy, who might has well have been shaking in her horseshoes. She was keeping up okay, but I could tell the oppressive atmosphere was getting to her.

I raised an eyebrow and turned back to Dash, "What KIND of nasty stuff?"

"Oh you know," Dash grinned nervously and turned away, "Just your run of the mill... dragons, hydras, poisonous plants..."

"And nobody saw fit to tell me all this before we ventured inside?"

I heard a cough behind me and turned to see Applejack moving up on us, "Well... we figured you would know it's dangerous an' all."

I rolled my eyes and let out a groan.

I didn't know what to make of it. I had been on the receiving end of gunfire and explosions, but a dragon? A dragon I didn't know how to handle... unless it was the one walking next to me.

I heard Fluttershy whimper a little, and the group stopped to turn towards her. Applejack frowned, "What's wrong Sugarcube?"

"I... I'll be alright, I just need a second. I've never been this deep into the forest before."

Dash looked around us and frowned, "Hmph, not even the ruins Luna went to were in this deep."

Rarity sighed, "I suppose it is a two day trip. I'm starting to regret not bringing my care products, I can already feel the grease in my mane!"

"Don't be silly Rarity!" shouted Pinkie Pie, bouncing to her friend, "We'll have time for that and even more when we get back to Ponyville. I already have everything set up for the party!"

Rarity smiled, "That would be delightful."

I felt like I was some sort of outcast, watching longtime friends interact and carry each other through a difficult time. I had stepped onto foreign land and didn't know what to do with myself. I only wanted to help Tammy and Twilight, but I doubted I would ever worm my way into their close knit group.

It was almost like an art the way these ponies interacted with each other.

This thought process was interrupted by Pinkie bouncing right into me and giggling as we both tumbled to the forest floor, "You're invited too! It'll be super duper awesome having a new friend!"

I couldn't help but smile a little...

And then Pinkie passed out right on top of me.

There was that one brief moment where my brain couldn't process what had just happened.

When that moment was gone I looked around and saw that all of the ponies with me had fainted.

"What's going on?" I couldn't see him, but that had been Spike's panicked voice.

As gently as I could manage I got Pinkie off me and stood up, shaking myself off. I nudged her with my hoof and frowned when she didn't wake up, "Pinkie?"

Spike started to panic, he stumbled into Rarity and yelled her name, then repeated this with Applejack and Fluttershy.

Then it hit me.

The most beautiful song I'd ever heard in my life reached my ears.

It had no lyrics, and the melody and beat didn't sound natural. It clearly wasn't created by a human... or a pony. It felt like something tugging at the back of my mind, and I found my legs moving on their own. Everything else but that song was gone from my mind, and I couldn't help but make my way towards it, wherever it was.

I went deeper and deeper into the forest...

and then...

everything went black.

* * *

"Oooo isn't he the most adorable thing you've ever seen."

"This one isn't half bad either sister."

"Hahaha, it's been so long since anyone's been this deep into the forest."

Everything came back to me in pieces, first my hearing, then my ability to think coherently.

It was almost like waking up from a dream and having to take a few minutes to realize that you were sleeping.

Part of me didn't want to open my eyes, but when I did I couldn't make much out. Everything was blurry and dark. There were a few familiar shapes in front of me. They looked like ponies, but something was... off about them.

"Look sisters, he's coming to!"

"Really? Oh I'm so excited, what should we name him!"

My vision started to slowly clear, and I noticed that I couldn't move my hoofs. I was strapped to the ground with something, my hooves pinned close together and against my body. I could feel the straps wound tight around my mid section. I started to struggle, and I heard a laugh.

"Tsk tsk tsk, we can't have you getting away."

One of the three figures leaned down in front of me, and I finally got a good look at her... it.

They were shaped vaguely like ponies, but they only had a mouth, and no hooves. It was as if they were spectres.

"It's been a while since we've sung our song," it whispered in my ear, "You are a welcome guest in these halls."

Halls? All I saw was a cave. I managed to move my neck around a little bit, to my left was the outline of a small form, tied up just like I was. "Spike? Spike wake up!"

"Oh he'll wake up eventually," said the creature. It turned towards the other two and smiled, "So what first? It's been so long I almost forgot how to have fun. Our last guests had the time of their lives."

"Yes," said another monster, "But they didn't last too long. Perhaps we should feed them this time, they seem to be limited creatures."

I growled, struggling against the constraints again, "What are you TALKING about?"

"The party of course," said the first monster, "We'll dance through the night together under the moon. We can do it for eternity."

"You've kidnapped other ponies? You let them die?"

"Die? No they merely expired, what is this death you speak of?"

I gritted my teeth, 'We have to get the hell out of here.' I started rocking back and forth, trying to loosen my constraints, "Spike, wake up!"

"You shouldn't rush him, we're not ready yet!" yelled one.

"But sister, it looks like he's really looking forward to this!"

No slack... nothing. I couldn't break free no matter how hard I tried. "Where are the others?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Others?"

"The girls!" I shouted, "What did you do with them?"

The first monster laughed, "Oh those useless old things? We left them where they were. They'll wake up in no time, but I seriously doubt they'll find you. OH! Would you like a gift? Sister, help me please."

"Yes sister."

A moment passed and what looked like a gem stone was placed on my chest.

"Let me go."

"Why would we do that?"

"I'm trying to save my friend, just let me go."

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, and like I said, there's no way they'll find you here."

"Oh, you overestimate yourself dear."

I craned my neck up to look where the voice had come from, not ten feet away stood Rarity, flanked by the rest of the gang. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Pinkie Pie hopped past her friends, a huge grin on her face, "Did I hear somepony say party? Because I'm PRETTY sure I heard somepony say PARTY!"

"Sister!" shouted the first monster.

One of the monsters responded and opened its mouth... only to be caught around its mid section by a rope.

Applejack stepped forward, rope still in her mouth.

Rarity smiled, "I'm afraid you won't be getting another chance to sing tonight."

Applejack tugged with a force I'd never seen before, and the monster she had roped slammed into the ceiling of the cave with a crack. The scream it let out was almost enough to shatter my ear drums, and it fell to the ground, incapacitated.

Rarity's horn glowed and my bind was loosened.

The monster that had spoken to me let out an inhuman growl, and was about to charge the group. I tackled it from behind, trying to get a good hit on its face with my hoof.

Fist fights I had been in, but hoof fights? Not so much.

I missed by a mile and we ended up stumbling over several times.

The monster ended up on top and screamed in my face. I punched it in response, causing it to stumble back.

One good thing about the hooves... I didn't have knuckles that hurt after I hit something.

"No!" shouted the first monster, "Our endless dance!"

Pinkie hopped forward and grinned, "Nopony has better parties than me!" To this day I still don't know where she pulled it from, but in front of Pinkie was what appeared to be a cannon with a fuse on the end of it. "NOPONY!" she shouted, then she _pushed_ the fuse like a button, and out shot several party materials: streamers, a table cloth, and a completely made and perfect looking cake... right into the monsters face.

Pinkie grinned and tossed the cannon to who-knows-where, then she hopped forward and bucked the monster right in the chest.

Another one down.

The last monster let out a blood curdling scream and ran down a path in the cave, the noise fading slowly as it gained distance.

"Way to take away all the action from me guys!" shouted Rainbow Dash. I looked over and noticed that Fluttershy was hiding behind her.

Pinkie grinned, and it was then I noticed there was cake on her face. She licked it off and giggled at Dash, "Well you were being a super duper slow poke!"

Dash huffed, "I can't see anything in here, and it's too cramped to fly! Not my fault!"

"Oh dear!" Rarity rushed over and clasped my face in her hooves, pushing it around and looking at me from head to hoof, "Are you alright? Where's Spike at?" I lifted my left hoof and pointed to where I had been tied up, and where Spike remained, still unconscious. Rarity was on him in an instant, "Oh you poor thing!"

"Okay," I said with a sigh, "What the hell were those things?"

Dash raised an eyebrow, "Hell?"

I wanted to pull my hai... mane out, "Ugh, just what were those things?"

Fluttershy clung to Dash and looked at me with her head slightly down, "Um... I think they were Sirens."

"Sirens. You're kidding right?"

"Well," said Rarity, "It would make sense, the beautiful song, how it only attracted you and Spike."

"Great, now we're on the frikkin' Odyssey!"

"The what?" asked Dash.

"Forget it, let's just get Spike and get out of here."

"We should set up camp," said Applejack, "Ah know ya'll are in a hurry to help Twilight, but we made good ground today an' we need rest."

I nodded, "Good idea."

* * *

We ended up setting up camp right outside the cave. The Sirens probably wouldn't be back, and this place was mostly devoid of other nasties due to them, so it was a good place to stop.

Setting up a tent with my mouth and hooves was hard, but with a little help from the rest of the gang I was off to sleep just like they were.


End file.
